Copasah

State Culmination and Review Programme, Community Based Monitoring in Maharashtra, India

Significant improvements presented, major unresolved health system issues raised. by Abhay Shukla Community based monitoring of health services, a process for health system accountability being implemented with support from National Rural Health Mission, completed five years in June 2012. As part of this process in Maharashtra, a State Level Culmination and Review programme in the […]

Transparency and accountability: Bringing the politics back in

By Alina Rocha Menocal Over the past two decades, citizen- led initiatives to hold power holders to account have taken the world by storm. The promise embedded in such efforts- that more enlightened and engaged citizens demanding greater accountability around issues that they care about can have a decisive impact in improving development effectiveness, the […]

How can fiscal transparency lead to better accountability and development?

For people interested in transparency and its impact on development, these are very interesting times. The last few years have seen a flurry of international initiatives aimed at promoting transparency in a variety of areas of government action. The Open Government Partnership, launched in 2011, already has more than 50 member governments who have undertaken to promote transparency […]

How Do We Know We Are Making A Difference? Challenges Before the Practitioner of Community Monitoring Processes in Assessing Progress and Evaluating Impacts

By Dr. Abhijit Das Community based monitoring is emerging as a promising practice for improving programme effectiveness and as a key component of rights-based implementation of health programmes. One of the challenges of this approach is to demonstrate that it is yielding results. Community based monitoring is often seen as a process intensive intervention, which […]

Ethical Issues in Community Based Monitoring of Health Programmes: Reflections from India

By Renu Khanna This paper explores the different sets of power relationships and resultant ethical dilemmas that arise when developing community monitoring systems. Community Based Monitoring and Planning, as part of the Government of India’s strategy to achieve quality health care within the National Rural Health Mission, is used as an exploratory case study. The […]

Accountability and Social Action in Health – A Case Study on Solid Waste Management in Three Local Authority Areas of Zimbabwe

By Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) with Civic Forum on Housing (CFH) Solid waste management is a major challenge to most urban local authorities in Zimbabwe. Rapid urbanisation in the last decade, coupled with economic decline and social disruption, placed considerable strain on local authorities’ resources, resulting in their failure to provide adequate services […]